Being Blessed

 

Text: Matthew 6:25-33

Focus: faith

Function: To remind us of God’s faithfulness

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²For it is the unbelievers who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Good morning!

Today’s lesson is taken from the Sermon on the Mount. In these days where selfishness and greed are promoted as virtues, the Sermon on the Mount gets accused of being woke.

I am aware of a colleague who was preaching this passage and was called out by the ministerial relations committee to quit being so political when he was merely teaching what Jesus commands us preachers and teachers to proclaim and instruct the disciples.

So again, I want to remind people of my effort to preach and teach Jesus’ lessons and lifestyle for us to live. It isn’t the way of worldly kingdoms, but we belong to the Kingdom of God. We rest in God and believe in God to provide for us.

I hope today to remind us of God’s faithfulness since we are about to open the Holy Days season with our Thanksgiving feasts.

That first Thanksgiving celebration after the Pilgrims survived devastating losses the previous winter was a true act of faith and worship. Instead of bitter regret and sorrow, they took the time to acknowledge that God is the one who provides for them.

And, they did it in community. They were the illegal aliens and the indigenous peoples gave to them a welcome that we still celebrate as an indication that in this world, because of God, good triumphs over evil.

We celebrate that unity and charity during our worship services and Thanksgiving remembrances, and yet our politics keep us from continuing that same work of love and charity toward the legitimate asylum seekers on our border. We do have a problem on the border, and Christ gives us a clear mandate for solving it.

I pray that Christ’s message of love and charity will prevail over the worldly politics of selfishness and greed.

This passage is about how God will provide for us.

The promises made to us are clear. There is an implicit understanding that humanity is set above the rest of creation. As the Scriptures say, we are the apple of God’’s eye. God delights in all of Creation because God created every single thing and it is all divine in that sense. But Jesus says look at the birds, look at the flowers, although these things are divinely created, you are worth more than them. And God cares for them. God cares for us. God provides for us.

The condition of the promise is to seek first God’s kingdom and secondly, seek God’s justice.

Your translation probably reads righteousness. Righteousness means doing the right thing, not merely saying the right thing.

Do the right thing in faith and God will provide.

I wrestled with that previous sentence in adding the words “in faith.” It is important to realize that this is a day by day trust in God to provide. Jesus is calling the disciples away from the fear of lack into faith in God’s provision.

And In the teaching Jesus gives us a short admonition so that we can focus on living by faith. Trice he tells us to stop worrying.

Perhaps worry is natural. Perhaps it can become a form of missing God’s best for us.

Living by faith in God’s provision for us is an important spiritual discipline. The promise in the passage is that when we are living a life that loves others as much as ourselves, God promises to provide our basic needs.

I was pondering the big questions this week as I was driving around and I was reminded of something a Mennonite Seminary Professor said to me once. He said: There are really three categories of sin in the Bible. 1, Idolatry. 2, Lack of concern for the poor. And 3, lack of faith in God’s provision.

According to Jesus, idolatry isn’t over, however it isn’t man made icons we bow down to but money. If we are worried about having enough, are we trusting money or God?

I confess, saying that feels like I am shaming someone, mainly myself, and God is not the author of shame.

So, I say, there is a gentle admonition in the passage to live by faith, to rest in God.

And finally that third category of sin: “The lack of concern for the poor” reminds us that to live by faith is to live to do justice, to seek first God’s way instead of the worldly way of greed and selfishness. We give up living in extravagance in order have enough to share because we realize that God has blessed us to be a blessing to others.

Before he tells us not to worry, he reminds us that God also knows we need basic necessities.

Knowing that we need these things and planning ahead is not wrong. He is just reminding us that God is sovereign and we live by faith in God.

I was reminded of this scripture when God led me to quit my job and go to Bible College and Seminary. I was driving my boss’s stake truck with a big metal rack covering extending over the cab and desperately wrestling with God about this when the metal protruding from above my cab struck and killed a sparrow. And it got my attention and God reminded me that I was of much more value than the sparrow and that God had me in their hand. I felt this peace come over me and I was reminded of a sentence that my preacher father said to me often: “You can do what you want to do as long as you do what you ought to do.”

With tears, I surrendered to going to Bible College.

This was God trying to get in touch with me, first through a bird, second, through a vivid memory and then, miraculously when I got home a confirmation from God happened. Kathy and I had a boarder living with us who was soon to marry a friend of ours. Apparently she was a mystic and heard from God. And she confronts me in the living room and says, “I don’t know what this means, but I’m supposed to tell you that you can do what you want to do as long as you do what you ought to do.”

I was blown away. And stubborn and fearful as I am, God was greater and lead us to a new venture as we prepared for ministry.

So, this morning, let us remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness.